Movies can offer varying degrees of disappointment. Terminator Salvation, for example, disappoints because it's terrible and shouldn't have been made, let alone released. The ironically titled Up, on the other hand, disappoints because it doesn't soar quite as high as its acclaimed Pixar predecessors. Holding each new flick from the animation factory up to such lofty expectations may seem unfair, but it's the films themselves -- like last year's WALL-E, a very tough act to follow -- that keep raising the bar to such dizzying heights.

　　 In other words, Up is good, not great, Pixar -- an elegant and somber reflection on life's unfinished business and our tendency to put even the biggest dreams on the shelf. And as we discovered with Cars, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille, even not-great Pixar trumps animated films from rival studios, and certainly deserves your time.

　　 Up begins with young Carl Fredricksen sitting in a movie theater absorbing newsreels about his idol, adventurer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), 英语影评 final quest takes him to South America to capture an enormous bird scientists claim doesn't exist. Carl's infatuation with Muntz -- and his unquenchable thirst for action -- leads him to fall for fellow daredevil Ellie.

　　 Up peaks early with a winsome five-minute flashback montage covering the decades Carl and Ellie spend together. Their life has highs and lows, culminating in a tearjerker of a shot that involves balloons -- the ultimate symbol of childhood exuberance -- and a casket. The sequence is vintage Pixar, humorous, heartbreaking, and always advancing the story.

　　 The rest of Up doesn't achieve such emotional resonance, as Carl, now an old widower voiced by Ed Asner, ties enough balloons to his cherished house to elevate it off the ground and pilot it to South America, where he promised Ellie he'd take her so many years ago. He unknowingly carries a stowaway when Cub Scout Russell, an egg-shaped chatterbox voiced by Jordan Nagai, stands on the man's porch as the house lifts off. Together, they land in Paradise Falls, where Muntz and his pack of talking dogs suspect the duo of trying to steal the explorer's elusive bird, which Russell lures with chocolate and names Kevin.

　　 Directors Pete Docter (of Monsters Inc.) and Bob Peterson fashion Up into a mature conversation about keeping one's promises: Russell routinely talks about his absentee father, who says he'll be at the badge ceremony if the boy earns his final pin for assisting the elderly. Carl promises to bring Ellie's house to Muntz's waterfall, then has to make good on a promise to take care of Russell. Even Kevin the bird needs Carl and Russell to help it get back to its hungry young, as promised.

　　 But the script (credited to Peterson) cuts corners. A convenient storm helps transport Carl's house from an undetermined city to South America (he's not in Kansas anymore). Russell finds and befriends Kevin within minutes, something Muntz couldn't accomplish in decades. I even found myself bothered by the physics of Carl's floating house, a whimsical but impossible device that kept taking me out of the story. (I had similar problems with Ratatouille's Remy the rat, who foolishly manipulated chef Linguini by strategically tugging his hair.) Carl also appears to be the most nimble senior citizen this side of Cocoon, possessing the arm strength of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even the short film preceding Up, a cloud-and-stork comedy titled Partly Cloudy, is pleasant but unremarkable.

　　 These nagging issues likely will float over the heads of pint-sized patrons, who will find themselves amused by loyal talking dog Dug (Peterson) and enthralled by an aerial battle between Carl's crumbling abode and Muntz's powerful blimp. The aircraft is dubbed the Spirit of Adventure, by the way. I'd have been much happier if Docter and his team had instilled Up with its own adventurous spirit, instead of slapping the suggestive moniker on the side of a dirigible and calling it a day.